Newborn and premature infants typically lack the muscular strength necessary for retaining proper or desired head and torso positioning. Furthermore, many children are born each year with physical and developmental challenges that cause the child to require supplemental physical support for comfortable and physiologically sound positioning. Consequently, infants and children, adolescents, and even adults challenged with deficiencies in muscle tone and muscle control deriving from muscular and neuromuscular deficiencies, such as muscular dystrophy, muscular atrophy, and other maladies and genetic disorders, need head, torso, and other bodily support for proper positioning and to promote optimal motor and muscular development. Other, normally healthy individuals may experience periods of special needs for supported positioning, such as during pregnancy or recovery from injury or surgery.
Developmentally challenged children often need to be positioned and supported by a system that can be configured according to their specific needs. Of course, it is also important that a positioning and support system be able to be adjusted and reconfigured as the child grows and as his or her needs change. The ability to adjust and to be reconfigured allows a caregiver to ensure that the support and positioning is always appropriate for the child's stage of development and the status of his or her condition.
One knowledgeable in the art will also be aware that medical studies have shown that infants who sleep on their backs have a reduced risk of experiencing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) compared to infants who sleep on their stomachs. Consequently, parents have been encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development through the Back to Sleep Campaign, and others to sleep infants on their backs. While the practice demonstrably reduced the incidence of SIDS, placing infants in a supine position for sleeping has had the somewhat unforeseen and inadequately addressed increase in the number of infants developing what is commonly referred to as positional plagiocephaly.
In positional plagiocephaly, the relatively soft and deformable nature of a newborn infant's skull that is so critical during birth allows the skull to experience undesirable deformation. When an infant spends many hours daily sleeping exclusively on his or her back, the posterior portion of the skull tends to flatten. Similarly, when the child's head is routinely turned to one side, a cranial asymmetry where the affected side of the head shifts forward can develop over time. A further risk derives from so many babies spending a substantial portion of their day in some form of an infant seat, which, although padded, presents a relatively flat and inflexible support. With the back of the child's head resting on the support surface for extended periods of time, the infant seat can further contribute to positional plagiocephaly. If the consistent positioning of the head is continued through the critical period during which the bones of the skull become rigid, the flat or misshapen area on the back of the skull or elsewhere can become permanent.
A number of skilled inventors have attempted to provide arrangements for providing infants, children, and others with support and positioning assistance. However, the systems and methods of the prior art have typically not been easily adjustable to accommodate each person's size and condition. They have also commonly failed to be adaptable as a given child grows or develops different needs or goals. Even further, many prior art arrangements lack breathability and ventilation. This leaves many parents and caregivers worried about a child's ability to breath if his or her face becomes pressed against the support surface. The lack of breathability and ventilation in such support arrangements can also lead to discomfort and overheating for the occupant of the seat, bed, crib, or other support arrangement.
In light of the state of the art as summarized above, it will be appreciated that there is a need for a system for providing comfortable yet effective support and positioning assistance in a manner that can be readily varied and adjusted to accommodate persons of different sizes and needs. There is also a need for a system that readily allows variations in support and positioning to provide for optimal comfort, to promote development, and to enable a caregiver to vary the disposition of the occupant's body to prevent adverse physiological results. Still further, there is a need for a support system that can prevent positional plagiocephaly while providing breathability to improve comfort and to ensure that the occupant can breathe in an unobstructed manner even with his or her face against the support surface. A support and positioning system meeting these and further needs that the prior art has failed to meet would represent a notable advance in the field and a substantial benefit to persons needing the same and to their caregivers.